Restitutio

In the 1500s scholars in northern Italy began questioning the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. Before long the Inquisition forced these burgeoning Italian biblical unitarians to flee, resulting in the spread of their ideas to other parts of Europe. The two most significant groups that emerged were the Polish Brethren and the Unitarian Church of Transylvania. In this lecture, you’ll learn about this interesting though typically overlooked chapter of church history.

This is lecture 6 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

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“Not only psychopannychism but also Antitrinitarianism was to find its fullest ecclesial expression in Polish Socinianism and Hungarian Unitarianism.  The leaders of these two parallel and closely interrelated movements…were Italians or palpably dependent upon Italians.”[1]

Italian Roots

“Made bold to translate Verbum as sermo, thereby sloughing off the philosophically freighted conception of Christ as the Eternal Word (Logos, Verbum), as the Mind and Instrument of God, and substituting the idea of Christ as merely the voice of God. Although Ficino, basing his thought allegedly on Paul, wrote of approaching the preached sermo with the same reverence as the eucharistic corpus, he had started a train of thought that would equate the Word with the prophetic vox of the Old Testament, and even with rational meditation and literary scripta, and which would inevitably render philosophically difficult the received formulation of the Logos-Son as consubstantial with the Father.”[2]

Polish Brethren (1565-1658)

“If you want to find out these things yourselves, there is my second catechism which I compiled from Holy Scripture privately for you. It explains about the Most High God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, man, only begotten Son of God our Lord, who are to be worshipped in spirit and in truth…May your understanding of God be that which we have from the prophets of Israel and not after the fashion of the Lutherans and Papists.”[3]

Is war ever justified?  If so, can Christians participate in killing?  In this episode we delve into a sensitive and controversial subject to figure out what the bible has to teach us about how we should treat our enemies.  Our aim here is not be provocative, but faithful to what our lord taught us.  Here now is the conclusion of our series on killing: off script 38: Killing in War: A Christian View of Violence

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Four Texts in the Sermon on the Mount Clearly Show What Jesus Taught

Jesus’ Apostles Furthermore Continued His Teaching:

Three Views of “Resist Not Evil”

Quotes:

Hippolytus (a.d. 215)

Origen (a.d. 248)

Although sometimes lumped in with enlightenment rationalism, the biblical unitarian movement came to prominence right from the start of the Reformation.  Essentially, as soon as bible translations started getting into the hands of regular people, a great many Catholic doctrines came under scrutiny.  In this episode you’ll learn about three major biblical unitarian trailblazers of the sixteenth century, including Claude of Savoy, Adam Pastor, and Michael Servetus.  These men did not give definitive shape to the larger groups that soon emerged, but they tread along the path, preparing the way for those who would come after.

This is lecture 5 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

—— Notes ——

Claude of Savoy (Claudius Aliodus) (1500?-1560?)

“’The Lord thy God is one.’ Whence then are there two others? particularly since it is written [Rom. 11:34]: “Who hath been his counselor?” That man alone, whom Mary conceived and brought forth, is called Jesus, which is proved [by Luke 1:31 -32]: “Behold thou wilt conceive and bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus; and he will be called great and the Son of the Most High.” Who therefore is so holy, so great, who is called the Son of God, but he who was conceived in the womb of the Virgin and born?

Therefore a Christian should acknowledge none other to be the Son of God than him whom Scripture so declares. Behold, the same man, the first born of Mary, is called the Savior and not some divinity of Christ.  He is declared to have saved us by his blood, not by his divinity. For this reason he himself says of himself [John 6:54]: “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” He does not say. “who eats my deity.” Therefore I am not held to eat the deity of Christ but rather his flesh and to drink his blood.

They blaspheme therefore who say of the Virgin that she is the Mother of God, for she did not bear God but Christ. If heaven and earth cannot contain God, how much the less the womb of a woman? In any case, if Jesus were thus divided into God and Man, the Virgin would not be the Mother of Christ, but only of a part of him.

Observe also the expression “this day” [I have begotten thee: Ps. 2:7; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5], which indicates a definite time. He was not, therefore, begotten eternally of the Father, as they [the orthodox] falsely imagine. But when came the fullness of time he sent his Son made of woman. Therefore he is precisely called the Son of God, who is made of woman.

The Father gives testimony concerning him [cf. Matt. 3:17]: “This is my Son with whom I am well pleased.” Concerning whom is this said, unless it be about him who had been baptized? For surely the divinity of Christ is not said to have been baptized, but only the man was shown forth.  Again [John 1:29]: “Behold the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world.” In that he is said to be a Lamb, nothing of deity is included, but exactly what is appropriate for sacrifice. It is also sufficiently shown, by the declaration [Heb. 2:16]: “he took not on him (assumpsit) the nature of angels, but he took on the seed of Abraham” that the Father, wishing to reconcile the world to himself, willed to do this by a creature and by blood, and not by any divinity. But the Father was in him through the plenitude of the Spirit reconciling himself to the

Determining the validity of capital punishment is a complex task, especially when approached from a Christian perspective.  To arrive at a biblically informed decision we need to consider both the Old and New Testaments, giving special attention to the nuanced understanding the Apostle Paul gave in Romans 13.  Furthermore, in America we have quite a few other issues we need to balance out such as the exorbitant cost of sustaining convicts on death row and the handful of cases where an executed person turns out to be innocent on the one hand, and  capital punishment’s ability to deter crime and mete out justice on the other.

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In this lecture you’ll learn about the Anabaptist movement and their distinctive beliefs.  We’ll consider the life of Michael Sattler, an important leader of the Anabaptists, and see how he stood firm in his faith even when his life was at risk.  Next, you’ll find out about Melchior Hoffman and how his followers took over the city of Münster, eventually resulting in chaos, immorality, and significant loss of life.  Sadly, European governments tended to lump all radicals together so that peaceful Anabaptists and violent apocalypticists got painted with the same brush.  Lastly, we’ll look at Menno Simons who became so influential among the Anabaptists that a sizeable group took his name, becoming the Mennonites.  Significant events in this lecture include:

This is lecture 4 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

—— Notes ——

Anabaptist Distinctives

Michael Sattler (1495-1527)

Articles or Charges against Michael Sattler[2]

Thereupon Michael Sattler requested permission to confer with his brethren and sisters, which was granted him. Having conferred with them for a little while, he began and undauntedly answered thus: “In regard to the article

Is it ever right to end someone’s life early? If so, under what conditions? In this episode we turn to the bible to sort out a Christian position on euthanasia.  Drawing on the inherent dignity God has invested in each person by making us in his image and the fact that God claims sovereignty over life and death, we conclude that physician assisted suicide is a sin.  In difficult cases of extreme and continuous suffering, Christians have pioneered palliative care in the hospice movement as a compassionate alternative to euthanasia.

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Learn about the Swiss Reformation, spearheaded by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich as well as the formation of the sect of Anabaptists known as the Swiss Brethren, including Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock. Key events covered in this episode include:

This is lecture 3 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

—— Notes ——

Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531)

“Zwingli’s reputation for biblical preaching led to his nomination for the post of people’s priest at the Great Minster in Zurich in 1518. Detractors raised the issue of Zwingli’s womanizing.  Zinwgli responded to the rumor that he had seduced the daughter of an influential citizen by admitting his struggle with sexual temptations but denying both the woman’s ‘purity’ and her father’s influence.

‘Some three years ago I firmly resolved not to touch a woman;…I succeeded poorly in this, however.  In Glarus I kept my resolution about six months, in Einsiedeln about a year,…That girl was a ‘virgin’ during the day and a ‘woman’ at night.  She was such a ‘day’ virgin, however, that everyone in Einsiedeln knew exactly her role…She had had affairs with many men, finally with me.  Or let me say it better: she seduced me with more than flattering words.’

The charge of immorality was finally ineffective since the other priest vying for the post lived openly in concubinage and had six children.

In light of this specific example and the generally widespread practice of priestly concubinage in the late Middle Ages, it is not surprising that one of the first reforms initiated in the Swiss Reformation was the right of the clergy to marry.  …[Only months after the ‘Affair of the Sausages,’ Zwingli, then living with the widow Anna Reinhart, led ten other Swiss priests in a petition to the bishop of Constance To Allow Priests to Marry, or at Least Wink at their Marriages (July 1522).  The priests signing this petition declared that chastity is a rare gift of God, and that they hadn’t received it.  Zwingli married Anna in a public ceremony in 1524 shortly before the birth of their child.  In 1525 the Zurich magistrates instituted a marriage ordinance mandating clergy living in concubinage either to end the relationship or to marry.”[1]

The following happened in 1519

1522 – “Affair of the Sausages”

1523 – public disputation (Zwingli vs. Catholic Representative)

1525 – marriage required for priests/monks w/ concubines

1529 – Marburg Colloquy

1531 – died in battle

The Swiss Brethren

“He [Zwingli] continued to defend the principle of the sole authority of Scripture; in practice he followed the wishes of the council, thus virtually committing the

On average, 121 people commit suicide per day in America. It is now the tenth leading cause of death in this country.  In this episode we discuss this phenomenon and seek to understand what the bible can teach us about this subject.  In addition, we wrestle with a number of hard questions about suicide such as:

Lastly, we consider how the bible provides hope for when we go through the darkest of times.

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In this episode, you’ll get a brief introduction to the contributions of Martin Luther and John Calvin to the initiation and spread of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, including these events:

This is lecture 2 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

—— Notes ——

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Today we are beginning a new series on life and death, in which we’ll consider abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and capital punishment.  Our goal is to address each topic from a biblical framework in order to arrive at a Christian position.  At the outset, I’ll admit that we don’t know everything and could be wrong, so we appreciate your engagement in helping us arrive at a godly position.

Today we’ll focus on abortion and consider whether it’s ever right for a Christian to have an abortion.  We’ll cover the scriptures that relate to this topic, the track record of early Christianity, and how this relates to our own time.  We discuss the major objections and consider the toughest cases like rape, incest, and when the mothers’ life is in danger.

Please note that some of what we discuss here is probably inappropriate for children.

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